The present invention relates to a system and method for integrating a tracking system into a cattle management system applied in the area of livestock farming used for cattle rearing, particularly for large herds reared on extensive territory properties.
Animal management systems are efficient methods to monitor existing breedings in a country. Keeping records on herd rearing conditions and performance is an important management tool and can be used to increase efficiency in farming. The individual identification of each animal in a herd is of paramount importance for any information recording system.
Usually, in the identification of animals, codes defined by a combination of letters, numbers or both are used. The codes are individual and aim to guarantee a unique identification for each animal, making it possible to differentiate it from the other animals of the herd. The most common identification methods for cattle are: earring (visual or electronic), tattooing, intraruminal bolus and fire marking.
In Brazil, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA) provides a national identification and tracking system, called SisBov refers to the Brazilian Traceability Service of the Bovine and Bubaline Production Chain and aims to register and identify the bovine and buffalo herd of the national territory, making it possible to track the animal from birth to slaughter.
Currently, each new animal, when entering a farm, receives a SisBov identification kit that includes a large earring for visual identification and a small button type earring, which can be electronic or a simple piece of plastic. The button is intended to serve as redundancy for the visual earring in case of loss. Both the visual earring and the button earring comprise at least one printed numbering, referring to a unique numerical code for each animal.
The visual earrings are earrings that comprise bar codes engraved with a numeric or alphanumeric code, which can be read with the use of special readers that, through photoelectric sensors, interpret the code by means of the absence or presence of light reflected in the bars.
However, the use of visual earrings as animal husbandry tools is considered ineffective, since the accumulation of dirt on the earrings, the constant movement of the animals and the light conditions usually found in the confinement spaces of the animals, compromise the readability of the devices.
For this reason, in addition to the visual earrings, electronic earrings are used which contain inside them an electronic chip pre-programmed for electronic decoding. They are activated by receiving low frequency radio waves emitted by a reader. When passing near a reading antenna, the antenna signal activates the internal circuit of the chip that “responds” by emitting a radio signal.
Radio Frequency Identification (RAD) is an identification method that uses electromagnetic waves to transmit signals between an electronic device, known as a transponder, which, in this case, refers to the electronic earphone, and a reading device, referred to as a “transceiver”, which refers to a reader or data collector. The reading device emits an electromagnetic signal, which activates the electronic earring, and it responds with another signal, containing its numerical code. The reader then identifies the received numeric code and passes this data to some type of record, where specific information must be stored concerning that numeric code.
However, there is a great difficulty found in the state of the art, due to the fact that the standardized electronic earrings that receive the numerical code of the SisBov are small, difficult to access for possible visual reading, and very short range for radio frequency reading at 900 MHz (Low Frequency), being necessary to position the data reader extremely close to the animal, less than 30 centimeters away, a factor that significantly hinders the handling of the devices and reading the earrings.
In addition, although the botton SisBov itself is marketed with this electronic mechanism, it ends up being discarded in the act of slaughter, since it does not allow rerecording. For this reason, the rural owner may decide to purchase a separate electronic botton, with the purpose of reusing the earring in another animal after slaughter, increasing its return on investment.
To circumvent the problems encountered in SisBov identification methods, some breeders use their own identification system comprising higher-tech earrings with superior technology compared to pre-programmed electronic earrings with the SisBov number, which achieve better reading distances, up to 10 meters.
However, the breeder, when inserting his own animal identification system, is forced to administer two distinct numerical codes for identification of the same animal, a first numerical code, generated by the breeder's own management system, and a second code number automatically generated by the tracking system, in this case SisBov, which cannot be changed. This management requires the use of additional software, with an external database, subject to inconsistencies.